DT 30926

95 comments on “DT 30926”

1. What a delight for a Wednesday. A steady solve over coffee with help needed for 17a only. I wonder if it will make The List? 11a required knowledge of a certain American sitcom but my daughter had regaled me with tales of it so I knew the character in question. I liked the archer’s home at 16d and the reverse lurker at 5a but my COTD is 4d with its London thieves.

   I haven’t a clue about the Quickie pun.

   Thank you, setter for a fun challenge. Thank you, Mr. Mustard for the hints.

   1. The footballer is pronounced Ay Tow.

      So, the pun is Rigoletto.

      1. Ta, TDS65! 👍

   2. Me too with 17d, straight in the list for me Steve.

   3. 27a’s were all the fashion rage many years ago, cannot remember which era though I have lived through so many ( world weary sigh). They were very easy to run up on the sewing machine.

      1. I think you mean 17a? 😊

2. I agree with Steve 17a was a new one for me and my LOI even with all the cross checkers in. Fortunately I randomly guessed the word as it was an anagram. My favourite was 16a which I thought clever. Took me a while to get into the setter’s mindset but then it flowed at **/***. Thanks Senf and our setter.

3. What a wonderful puzzle with lots of smiles. I had to check 17a was correct but no other concerns apart from the Quickie pun which I couldn’t get.

   Hard to pick favourites from so many but I’ll plump for 16d, 23a, 10a and 13a.

   Thanks to Senf and the setter.

4. Delightful. 9a and 16d were the stand-outs for me. Funny and smart. Best thanks to setter and Senf.

5. Great guzzle apart from 17a which I am sure will be added to THE LIST. Had to do the guzzle on my iPhone with the bouncing cursor as the puzzles on my Kindle just won’t load. Anyone else having the same problem? Phoned Telegraph Towers who told me during a half hour conversation that the Kindle isn’t supported by the app and I can’t possibly do the guzzle on it despite my saying I’ve used it for at least 15 years and this is my 4th Kindle, two having been run over! Very careless. I can’t make head nor tail of the Quickie pun either. Thanks to the setter and to Senf.

   1. There is surely a Wildean quotation to be used there, to lose one Kindle to a……….

6. What a frustrating pangram with extremes of good and bad.

   Presumably there must be someone “famous” called Bing Chandler somewhere in the world. How does “maid” clue the second word of 6d? I can only think it is an even more horrendous than usual vague girl. 1a doesn’t need both “prim” and “straight-laced”. “Max” in 17d makes the surface unnecessarily sloppy. 17a must go on The List. The less said about the Quickie Pun the better, although I assume it is more to do with Verdi than a jittery piggy.

   And yet there were lots of ticks too: 1a, 9a, 10a, 15a, 22a, 23a & 16d.

   Thanks to the setter and to Senf.

   1. I hope that Chandler Bing is adequately explained in the hint for 11a.

      1. Yuk! That’s just made my bad mood worse. Don’t get me started on Friends.

         1. Hi, Rabbit Dave. It’s reasonable to prefer crosswords to be free of cultural knowledge … but the clues you picked as highlights included 9a (which required knowing a boxer from their nickname, and whose definition is another fictional character), and 10a (with its names of astronauts). Some people aren’t going to know those either, but it doesn’t make them bad clues.

            Given we all have different references, if we’re going to have the pleasure of clues with references we know, surely we have to accept there’ll inevitably also be some with references we don’t? That you happened not to have the knowledge to parse 11a doesn’t make it a bad clue; it’s just a clue aimed at somebody else. And you pretty much had parsed it anyway: you deduced there must be somebody called ‘Bing Chandler’, and indeed a quick web search reveals indeed there is (well, almost!).

            (For what it’s worth, I’ve never watched Friends.)

            1. I just went for a store which sold candles! Then tried to work Crosby into it unsuccessfully!

            2. As you say, Smylers, some will know, some won’t. I didn’t have a scooby what was going on with 10a until I read the blog, getting it from the Z, gutted red, and bird definition. Likewise 9a from the crimper homophone and definition. Yes, I do of course know of both the astronauts and boxer, but neither sprang to mind from the clues.

               OTOH the Bing answer was a write-in as soon as I finished reading the clue – I was a 20/30 something when it was first broadcast, and it was pretty-much written for “my” generation, give or take a few years.

            3. I’ve never watched it either, you are not alone.

7. Surely the pun is an opera.

   Enjoyable light crossword, even with a few mistakes.

   1. Ah, that’s what it is! I got the right word for the quickie pun but thought it was a type of pasta!

8. Fantastic! I enjoyed this so much — one of my favourite crosswords ever!

   I’ve pruned the longlist of potential favourites down to 9a’s greatest crimper, 10a’s teammate, 27a’s kestrel, 13a’s off-peak call, and 16d, which was my last in, after I’d wrongly presumed that the capital A in ‘Archer’ was there to mislead — meaning, of course, that it did manage to mislead me anyway! There are at least 5 others which could’ve been my favourite clue on most days.

   Massive thanks to the setter. I’m guessing Hudson, who’s provided other enjoyable Wednesday puzzles recently (and also because we’ve already had Twm this week, on Monday).

   Like others I had to look up 17a. Chambers 21st Century has it as 6-3, though that wouldn’t’ve helped me. And for 11a I had no idea I knew so many Bings — but I managed to think of the cartoon rabbit, the search engine, and Mr Crosby, before getting enough crossing letters for the intended Bing finally to become obvious.

9. Nice and straightforward and no problems with the oriental dress. I have to smile at Senf’s common name for a maid – in our class at junior school there were eleven of us!

   Thanks to the setter and to Senf

   1. And I thought I’d taken the prize as one of five Janes!

      1. I had an A-Level applied maths class of 12 pupils of which 6 were called Andy/Andrew, as was the teacher, making more people in the room called Andy than all other names together. And this was at a mixed-sex school!

10. Got to pick 10a today as it was the defining moment for anyone born in the 60’s, although it took a moment before the source of the a was

    Thanks to Setter and Senf
    Some “peak” ululation here

11. I thought this was so hilarious that I even forgave the occasional blunders along the way. Even the Quickie pun was so bad that it was joyful.

    Many thanks to our setter for brightening my day and to Senf who’s ability to soldier on through the extremes of Canada’s weather amazes me.

12. Enjoyable stuff – thanks to our setter and Senf.
    I liked 15a, 23a and 16d with my favourite being the superb 10a (once I’d realised that Neil A wasn’t Andrew).

13. I enjoyed this pangram despite having the same parsing problems as one or two others seem to have had. The answer was obvious at 6d and I presume the word ‘maid’ in this instance just means girl, which still leaves the perennial problem of ‘ pick a random girl’s name ‘. I loved the cleverly misleading first part 11a, but did not have the necessary knowledge to fully parse it, and the clue for 17d didn’t quite provide the answer. That said, there was plenty to like, I learnt a new word ( which I will probably forget before the next puzzle!) and my LGC have had their daily workout. Thanks to our setter and Senf.

14. An enjoyable guzzle, with a great variety of clue types. COTD for me was 21d, the Geographical cryptic definition, followed closely by rhe geographical anagram at14d and the anagram oriental dress at 17a, which is,I believe, an old chestnut. Thanks to the conpiler and to Senf for the hints

15. This was a joy to solve with so much to talk about.

    Firstly, who doesn’t love a pangram. The Home Counties was my last quadrant and I was wondering….’Now, where are the k, q and x going to be?’ Great fun.

    14d gives me a chance to show off. I make no apology if I have said it before but I got a five pointer on Only Connect when ‘ancestral’ was the first clue in round 2. I yelled at the screen that the fourth one in the sequence is an anagram of Stuart as the connection was anagrams of four royal houses in chronological order: 14a, York, Tudor and Stuart. The team who had to solve it only got two points. Get in there, Tom!

    I admire the setter using the Friends character as opposed to the detective fiction writer because it will evoke lots of ‘harrumphs’ and ‘grrrrs’. But, referencing the most successful TV show of all time (stats not opinion) is to be applauded. To use one of his classic expressions…..Could solvers of a certain age BE any more grumpy?!

    I had all the checkers for 17a and got it right first time as I thought that ‘ong’ had to be in there (it was like playing Wordle).

    I didn’t spot the anagram in 25a which is bonkers seeing as there are only four words in the clue! That has to be a first for me.

    I like that archer could be an expression for the second part of 16d.

    I didn’t realize that the woman in 6d was an extremely common name for a maid. Hence the term for it. Every day is a school day and all that caper.

    I don’t mind the setter using strait-laced in 1d as it adds a bit of colour to the clue. Silvanus does this from time to time.

    I love that the setter is ‘dan wiv der kidz’ saying ‘Max number’ not ‘Maximum number’. More power to you!

    My podium is 13a, 22a (excellent construction) and 16d.

    MT to Rock (?) and the Manitoban mountie.

    2*/5*

    1. PS 17a could easily have had ‘ang’ in the middle not ‘ong’.

       I just got lucky.

16. All good fun for a Wednesday with much to like. Never watched Friends so 11a had to be by deduction from the checkers and when I couldn’t shoehorn in a reference to Crosby. I wrote “eek” against 9a but laughed out loud. It seems like 17a may be destined for the List committee. Many good clues from which I will pick a podium comprising 10a, 5a and 13a in top spot. Thanks to compiler and Senf.

17. For me, and I stress for me (© Senf), I would like to complain in the strongest possible terms (letter of complaint sent to Mr Lancaster, and copied to Mr Starmer, the new Pontiff, and President Xi Jinping).
    I had to provide refreshments, including chocolate eclairs, at very short notice to gather togther the conclave that is the committee for THE LIST.
    However, all were united in welcoming a second endorsement for 17a, last seen in 2022. It is a nuisance when an exhibit receives new notoriety as we have to ask the team of cleaners to give the item in question some extra welly when polishing, so that it is as presentable as possible for the hoards of excited visitors.

    Please note that due to the anticipated heavy demand to view 17a, it has been moved into the Grand Lobby and additional seating has been provided. Audio tours are available.

    Great guzzle. Thought it was a ‘Waaahhh!’ at first glance but I enjoyed every moment of untangling it.

    Thanks to the setter and The Man From Manitoba (with his red scarf on standby)

    1. If you expect to receive a reply from the present PM you should really address him with the correct honorific based on the KCB he received in the 2014 New Year Honours.

    2. I do love you!

18. Good morning.

    I missed the pangram as the hinting was not as straightforward as the solving and towards the end my brain was turning ‘mushy’ from the heat.

    I am a little surprised that no-one has commented on my comment on the letter count in 17d either agreeing with me or explaining why I am missing something.

    I would put two half-crowns, still plenty at the back of my sock drawer, on 17a already being on The List.

    An interesting story on how Edwin Eugene became Buzz – one of his older sisters mispronounced ‘brother’ as ‘buzzer’ which was shortened and then became his legal first name in 1988.

    1. Great Buzz story!

    2. The owner of a Leeds Taxi firm in the 60’s 70’s had the same nickname as Mr Aldrin, and for the same reason, his sister couldn’t say brother. He was always known as Buzz – I never found out his real name, I hope it was Eugene!

       1. If his middle name was Theodore, he would be a cabby called ‘Buzz the door’.

          Can I get it by you, Sloops? Well, can I?

          1. Late reply – Curse of the working classes
             He was always known as Buzz Trapps -rumour was he kept bees in his spare time. And I think I have said this before, I was buzzer or bumblebee at school as I used to hum like a bee when concentrating

             1. Marvellous!

19. Re 17d (and, yes, I know Chambers is the Tel’s reference of choice) but … C****L is in Collins, defined as “the max number of people a *** will hold”.

    1. Thanks – so, I was missing something in 17d as the word has been around for 200 years or so, but hasn’t got into the BRB, and has the same usage of the three letter suffix as in HAND***

       1. Indeed. Reminded me of Hancock’s great “very nearly an arm***” sketch!

       2. Hi S

          Why oh why we dropped the second L with words like handfull, hopefull, colourfull is beyond me. One theory is that the powers that be don’t like triple letters, e.g hopefullly or colourfullly.

          Well, why not????

          My turn to say harrumph…..harrumph!

          The only words I know that end in full are those that describe how full something is, i.e brimfull, topfull, overfull (dreadfull word) and bankfull. with the last one being the only one that can’t be shortened.

       3. Me too

          Well, as was mentioned somewhere else in these comments, every day’s a school day

          1. That was me!

             What do you call three kings having a natter in Blighty?

             A magichatuk.

             Come on!

             1. 😂😂😂

    2. The OED also has it as 6 letters, one word. It hadn’t actually occurred to me it’d be anything else. As one word (and with only one L), it refers to a quantity; with two words (and a double-L), it’s a literal description of the containing thing being full right now.

       So the book Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs is referring to a quantity of dinosaurs, which may or may not be currently in a bucket. Indeed, it doesn’t even require Harry to own a bucket. Whereas the TV adaptation of that book, Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs is referring to Harry having an actual bucket, which is currently full of dinosaurs:

       

20. A very (mostly) pleasing solve – 17d, I’m talking to you!

    Missed the programme references in 16d and 11a. In my defence I have never listened to the radio programme – but unfortunately I can’t have the same excuse about 11a as it was enforced viewing.

    Never heard of the oriental dress – but guessed it from the fodder although need confirmation from Google!

    Thanks to Senf for the hints and to the setter

21. I liked this except for the use of strait laced in 1d.
    17d is spelt without the l so that one’s ok.
    9a was my favourite today. I thought 11a might cause some debate.
    2*/4* for me
    Thanks to Senf and setter

22. I’m clearly being denser than Andrea Jenkins, given the number of comments praising the clue, but can someone please explain how ‘crimper’ relates to the second part of 9a?

    Otherwise a very enjoyable puzzle, sailing through most of it and then held up by a few tougher ones (17a and 16d for me, having missed the radio reference entirely in the latter). 2*/3.5*

    1. The second word of the solution is a homophone of a word for a mens’ hairdresser or crimper. The first word is a boxer , who decllared that he was the greatest.

       1. Who is Andrea Jenkins?

          1. Jenkyns, I should have said. Populist ex-MP, current mayor, and onetime finalist of Miss UK.

             And thanks to Chriscross for the explanation – I did not know that crimper meant hairdresser.

             1. Is she thick then?!

                1. Thick as a whale omelette, IMHO.

23. Thoroughly enjoyable, what an excellent puzzle. Favourites were the first 4 across clues, 1, 5, 9 & 10 with the latter winning my clue of the day award – even The List entrant was an anagram so eventually you could stumble onto the answer!
    Thanks to Senf and a huge round of applause for the setter!

24. Good challenge, although I seem to have found it tougher than most others in the blog. And the quickie was tricky too!

25. A very Brit feel about this one, what with 4,5,14 and 16 down, so good luck to anyone over the pond today.

    The Island has been invaded by a cruise ship ( more like a tower block hotel on it’s side with a keel at the bottom) which holds
    4600 tourists who mope about the town with faces like a slapped jacksy, who can’t wait to get back on board so they
    can get another all inclusive McDonalds down them. So will avoid the town at all costs and go right down the south today
    to avoid all the mob.

    Great crossword today, and like others have never heard of 17a being an untravelled village boy from Crowthorne where the most
    exotic thing in my youth was a Vesta curry, ah well…….

26. I’m guessing this Wednesday puzzle is a Twm production due to the parsing issues and clueing I expect from him. Bit of a slog in many places and several obscure words as well.

    3*/2.5* for me … not a lot of fun

    Favourites though – 5a, 10a, 15a, 3d, 6d & 20d — with co-winners 5a & 3d

    Thanks to Twm(?) & Senf

    1. Hi PCBC

       I saw someone say that Monday’s was Mr Tumble’s.

       So, hoo nose.

       1. Also Twmbarlwm has created today’s Toughie, so us unlikely to have a backpager scheduled on the same day.

       2. As well as providing Monday’s back-pager, it is unlikely to be Twm on duty here as his alter ego Light has set today’s Toughie.

       3. Yes – SJB in Comment 30 on Monday’s blog.

27. V light and enjoyable, v (old-style) Monday. Surprised at the reaction to 17a, thought it a well-known style of dress. Couldn’t see a reason for both prim and strait-laced to be in the clue in 1d. Honours to COTD 5a for the combined surface read & answer, 22a, 16dd & 21d.

    Many thanks to setter & Senf, and here’s why I thought 5a such a super clue, though there were a couple of such tracks in the film:

28. Reading Tipcat, my personal opinion ( I do realise that it might be someone’s idea of heaven) is that those huge cruise ships are obscene and should be banned. SoThere, Bonjair. However I loved the guzzle, light and floughie- I liked the 16d city clue (obvs as they say), knew 11a stocked candles and have worn several 17 acrosses in my time. Also 9a and, oh too many to mention but I am going for the off peak call as my favourite. My first guzzle this week as on Monday I was giving a talk at a Luncheon Club big anniversary and yesterday visiting friends in Saffron Walden. I do get a bit tetchy when parted from my guzzle. Many thanks to Clever Setter and to Senf -,I think you just cling on to that red scarf for sentimental reasons!

    1. I thought 11a sold boating and marine equipment. 🤔
       I think they began by selling candles to seafarers then realised they could sell more.

       1. Definitely a word that has evolved over time starting from the Latin for candle and candlemaker becoming, straight from the BRB, ‘a dealer in a specified type of goods (as in corn-chandler, ship-chandler.’

    2. Agree re; monstrous cruise ships

29. I found the puzzle very entertaining and the blog equally so! I did not know the dress in 17a, just as well it was an anagram and was puzzled by explaining the missing L IN 17d but thoroughly enjoyed completing it. Too many great clues to choose one favourite.

    Many thanks to the setter and to Senf for the hints

30. My favourite for a while. I though I had lost my touch. However today’s was on my wavelength. Last quadrant in was NW. Until I got 2d I wasn’t sure whether I needed a K or D in 13a. I have heard of 17a but had to check the spelling. I couldn’t get past Crosby in 11a as I’d not heard of the other but the answer was inevitable with the checkers. Favourites 1 and 9a and 4 and 17d. Thanks Setter and Senf.

31. 2* / 4* Yet another great puzzle, liked the mild blue at 16d (kept thinking it was going to be cheese), red bird at 19a and buffoon at 23a

    Thanks to setter and Senf
    Ps also liked the quickie pun

32. Anyone else having trouble accessing puzzles on the DT website. I am fully subscribed to the paper, including access to puzzles, but when I try to go to puzzles I’m offered a years subscription to puzzles for £1 and I can’t log in.

    1. See my comment #5 Steve, TT said they were aware there is a problem but my Kindle apparently doesn’t use the app, which it does, soooo frustrating

       1. I can’t phone DT because my landline is down and there’s no mobile signal. I had to use the “Chat to Us” part of the website. They did acknowledge that there was a problem trying to access the puzzles on line. I was told to download the app – even worse than trying to solve guzzles on the laptop.

    2. Just checked and working fine for me.

       1. Are you using the app or the DT website, AP?

          1. DT website via Safari on a Mac Studio. Don’t have the app, prefer the browser.

             1. I’m using Safari on a MacBook Pro. I can access the rest of the paper but the puzzles section wants £1 for a year’s subscription. I can’t log into puzzles because of it.

                1. Exactly my problem too Steve

33. I made a reasonably friendly puzzle more difficult by perhaps being one of the few who never listened to the Archers (nor did my parents), and never watched Friends. 8a was a bung in as I didn’t understand the Crimper connection (I do now), and have never heard of 25a being a vagrant, or harlequin being a buffoon. Just confirmed latter two in Thesaurus. In my defense I did know 17a and even how to spell it. Overall it was very enjoyable, especially for a Wednesday. Thanks to setter and Senf. My goodness Senf, that is hot up there. We are complaining that we will be heading into the 32+ range starting Friday. Summer is arriving early here. No chance of a scarf being needed until at least January…

    1. Wait until you read my preamble on Sunday!

34. First proper solve since last Friday due to other commitments. Enjoyed this but had never heard of the dress and at least 3 other spelling were plausible enough to make me have to look it jus, which was a bit disappointing.

    Ticks to 13a, 19a and 23a as favourites in an enjoyable and comfortable solve.

    Does anyone recall whether last Saturday’s Doorknob was a toughie in disguise – haven’t had a chance to fire up that blog yet? I kept getting interrupted but only got about half way through and it felt very difficult. I will check the blog when I get a chance.

35. 11a seems problematic but all was well when I realised that, in Crosswordland, wicked people weren’t necessarily bad – just gainfully employed.

36. Unlikely to be a TWM product as it seemed different to his puzzles . SE was slowest section. My Fav was 13a. 17d bung- in was incompletely parsed. Quickie pun unfathomable as footballer unknown to me. To whom it may concern as setter TVM and likewise ro Senf.

37. A pleasant solve and needing only a little help in completing some of the clues, such as 17a of which I had never heard. I was puzzled by 17d even though I got the correct answer yet there was no deletion indicator nor a hint it might have been a homophone. Have I missed something? Completely missed the context of 28a, felt a bit silly when the penny dropped. COTD for me, 16d, although I don’t listen to said programme.
    Thank you to the setter and to Senf for the hints.

    1. Hi FB

       It’s carful (like houseful or handful) with E (the abbreviation for Spain) inside it.

       I’m not sure why this clue has had so much attention as it’s as straightforward as you can get.

38. Splendid puzzle that would have been done & dusted in Tuesday time but for never having watched Friends – the name only rang the faintest of bells once I’d eventually cottoned onto the context of wicked & that took almost as long as the it took to solve the rest of it. 17a was a fodder punt from the checkers & subsequent confirm. Ticks for many clues but if forced to pick just one it’d be the off peak call.
    Thanks to the setter & to Senf – I had to look the player up in the Quick puzzle & still didn’t then peg the pun.

39. Late on parade today – we are in Inverness this week and have been enjoying the delights of the Highlands in glorious weather.
    I thought 16d was very clever, as I think Jeffrey Archer actually lives there and I initially missed the radio show connection.
    Good puzzle.
    Thanks in advance to Huntsman who is standing in for me tomorrow.

    1. They do indeed live in a tiny village south of Cambridge in a house where Rupert Brooke stayed.

40. I’m afraid I’m in the minority today as I found this neither enjoyable or remotely straightforward. 9a didn’t really work for me, never watched friends so had no chance of parsing 11a, never has a word been more deserving to be twice on ‘the list’ than 17a, I got 6d but the second word, vague or what? Missed the Archer connection in 16d which I’ve never listened to and 21d had to be the answer but, by this stage of the proceedings, I couldn’t be bothered to check it. I think I’ll leave there in case I turn into Brian, where is he by the way? Thanks to the setter anyway and Senf.

41. What is “the list” and where can I find it?

42. Had a huge battle with this crozzie tonight but almost got there without any assistance: bizarrely, I needed the hint for 23d even though I had three of the letters and the missing two had to be vowels; I just couldn’t see it. Also, I solved the now infamous 11a using the checkers (it had to be “chandlery” but the clue was largely beyond me) and I had to check the spelling of the also infamous 17a. More difficult than yesterday but always enjoyable when you (almost) solve it by yourself. COTD 13a for the humour. Thanks to the setter and to Senf – and for the comments. ***/****

43. 3*/5″ . …
    liked 22A “Major setback-million lost importing international wine (5)”

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